Monday, November 9, 2020

The Rev. Rob Stevens

Why Church?

I get this question more than most people I suspect, but I believe it is a question that deserves an answer and definitely deserves thoughtful consideration especially by those of us fall into the category of church-goers.

What is your answer or answers to this question? Why do you come? I encourage you as you wander your way through this Lenten season to make some time to ponder and answer this question for yourself.

One of my answers to the question is that I need people. That may seem cliché or somehow trite, but nonetheless it is true. Church is not a building to me but people. And church is a collection of people that in most of my experience might have very little to do with each other if they did not go to church. One of my friends said it well when she said that, “Church is the most difficult place for me to be a Christian.” She said this with a smile and a chuckle, but I think that it is true for many of us.

Much of our lives are lived in silos…or bunkers. We are separated by gender, age, socio-economics, politics, worldview; the list goes on and on. Church breaks these barriers when we do church well. It brings together a motley crew of people who are willing to ask the big questions together. Church is one of the last places in our society where people of all ages gather together regularly. That is no small thing, and in my opinion it is priceless.

That same friend who said that church is the most difficult place for her to be a Christian sent me a YouTube sermon that was, for me, a great answer to “Why Church?” Dr. Brené Brown preached it in the Washington National Cathedral. I have attached a link below and commend it to you. If the link gives you trouble simply search for “Brené Brown sermon Washington Cathedral”

I am grateful that SJC is a Church community that values our differences and sees them as strength, that we value kindness and people over the “product” and that we imperfectly seek to share God’s deep love with the entire world.

Link to Dr. Brené Brown’s sermon: https://youtu.be/ndP1XDskXHY